Counting my blessings

Well, it's been a hectic Christmas season (I almost slipped and said "holiday season," which I find so watered down). In the last 2 months of the year, we celebrated a 60th wedding anniversary (not ours, ha), Thanksgiving, a graduation, my little sister's wedding (surreal), and Christmas. To add to the top of the "big things" for 2008, I found out I am pregnant! About 4 months along now, which is also surreal. So even though I was fighting a terrible cold these past few days, I still grabbed my husband outside of church on Christmas Eve and told him how incredibly blessed we are.

This year, I have just been really grateful that my family is together and healthy. Another little reminder of that came today. My mom got a weird result from a mammography and had to go back in to the doctor. She is fine--so those extra prayers worked quickly, but it is a reminder to not take anything for granted, least of all the most important thing: family.

The Advent season got me thinking

People have many preconceptions and misconceptions about the Catholic Church. They repeat what they’ve heard on NBC or read in Time. Very, very rarely do they actually take the time to read about what it means to be Catholic, to find out what we believe. Many seem to think that we’re blind followers of the Vatican, of “The Church.”

The new movie, Doubt, that recently opened brought with it a barrage of interviews by the cast. Here is one quote from the director:
“Now the Catholic Church has its faults, but these dioceses, these church schools, these centers, provided a gravity which kept people from flying off into outer space.”

We’re not blind followers. We do not depend on a diocese to keep us grounded. We are faithful—we are believers in the Catholic faith, and everything it truly represents, not what people like to think it does.